Beyond counting clicks: rethinking engagement in digital mental health
User engagement remains a challenge in digital mental health. This editorial reconsiders engagement as a process rather than an outcome, introducing a four-step model to define, measure and link engagement to outcomes. The approach promotes standardisation, interpretability and scalability, advancing the science and implementation of digital health interventions.
Authors
- Andrea Cipriani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5179-8321)
- Stefan M. Gold (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5188-4799)
- Sean Ryan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3105-7582)
- Emily A. Holmes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7319-3112)
- John Blake Torous (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5362-7937)
- Peter J. Uhlhaas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0892-2224)
- Thomas Ward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7608-5755)
- Katharine Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2679-1472)
- Edoardo Giuseppe Ostinelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8717-0832)
- Ivana Paccoud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-8013)
- Kate Haining (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4500-1395)
- Carolina Garcia Sanchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0137-3434)
- Jochen Klucken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-9437)
- Sofiia Lahutina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8908-827X)
- Sinéad Lambe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9543-8109)
- Kerem Böge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8263-4936)
- Charlotte Blease (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3657-2476)
- Anastasia Vinnikova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3227-5478)
- Thomas Gant (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3485-3843)
- Luisa Tomelleri
Institutions
- University of Verona (IT)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Luxembourg (LU)
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Hadassah Medical Center (IL)
- German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (DE)
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Warneford Hospital (GB)
- Centre for Mental Health (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- Health Biomed (China) (CN)
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DE)
- Oxford BioMedica (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Oldham Council (GB)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2025-11-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10485
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.09
Funders
- Université du Luxembourg
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- King's College London
- University of Oxford
- University of Glasgow
- Angelini Pharma
- Uppsala Universitet
- Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina - Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London